Fantasy Football Off-Season Dynasty Strategy

So you hit the fantasy wall. Fantasy playoffs are over and it’s time for the off-season to begin. You’re thinking that there’s not much action to expect over the next few months leading up to your next draft. Bummed? Well, you shouldn’t be because that’s the wrong mentality my friend, especially if you want a successful dynasty team.

This is the time of the year where your dynasty team is made. There are certain things that will happen throughout the playoffs, and leading up to the NFL draft where you can take advantage of favorable value via trades and the waiver wire. I always try to do two things:

1) Trade
2) Consolidate

Having a consistently strong and competitive dynasty football team is all about value plays. Each of us has the opportunity to take some serious advantage of NFL players whose value balloon in the off-season due to fluff pieces or solid statistical performances throughout the playoffs. You must take advantage and sell high.

Now, clearly that’s easier than it sounds because the ideal move in dynasty games is to sell at the peak and buy at the trough. However, too many of us fall in love with players, won’t ever budge and don’t selling high. There’s always that second guess moment of, “I think this guy is at his peak value, but what if I sell now and he continues to produce?” You can’t let that moment keep you from obtaining value. More likely than not, the guy will produce and end up rotting away on your roster after a few solid seasons and you’ll have nothing to show for it.

I see too many dominant teams inactive in the off-season year after year and I routinely find them falling behind. They wake up one day in the middle of the pack with little trade value on their team and they go through a long struggle for a few seasons in an effort to rebuild. You’ve got to make the call to deal a high value player who may be a solid contributor to your team the following season or make the decision to sell a player who is losing value, even though you don’t want to sell short. Sell him to get a lower valued guy who you think is undervalued plus a little bit more value in a prospect or rookie picks. There are very few players who are going to produce at a peak level for a number of years and carry your team to a championship and you’ve got to understand that to be successful.

I never keep my team the same in dynasty leagues, regardless of how well I did in the previous season. I do however typically find one or two core players or cornerstone guys to center my squad around. Even if I win the championship in a league, I’m still wheeling and dealing in the off-season trading players that won me the trophy. I generally hold the view that it’s highly unlikely that the same team that brought you to the championship will help you get there again.

You must continuously realign your team otherwise it goes stale, loses value and your forced into rebuild mode after a few seasons. Some may say that this may prevent you from winning a championship or that I’m a trade addict, but I look at it as an opportunity to annually make the playoffs and get a shot at the crown on an annual basis. Otherwise you’re playing for a few years and that’s not a solid dynasty game plan.